Climbing Mount Olympus (IC)

[Demonic_Spoon]

Mopsus counterattacks, lobbing a volley of magical missiles at the furies, whereafter he fires off a bolt of pure insanity at one of them.

"Die you damn bird beasts!"

Mopsus then nods to acknowledge Cheiros' words and holds on tightly to the dragon.

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Quickened Empowered Maximized Magic Missile consisting of 5 missiles spread between the casters if they're still alive, or concentrated on one of the normal furies if they're not. No save, no SR, 7 damage per missile, for a max of 7*5=35 if all hit the same target.

Thereafter a bolt of madness, dazes target for (1d3)[1] rounds, requires ranges touch attack, DC42 will save negates. Fired at one of the casters if they're still alive or the closest fury:

(1d20+27)[44]

[Toliudar]

Hestia tests out the strength and nimbleness of her new form, charging after the other furies. She slashes at the back of one of spell-casting furies, determined to do unto others as they had done.

Cheiros' eyes bulge briefly as he sees the massive and shimmering wall appear in front of them. While he would dearly love to join Damien and Mopsus in counter-attacking, perhaps discretion was once again the better part of valour.

"Mopsus, please take a firm hold on your saddle. We are about to come to a halt. Cychreides, old friend...blast this creature attacking Mopsus."

He weaves the same magic that he had earlier directed at the furies, but this time using it to cushion their impact, slowing the dragon's momentum so that he could stop before he hit the wall. Cychreides turned and sent a blast of acid back in the direction where he remembered the fury had been hovering.

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Hestia will charge and attack one of the casters from behind. DrK, you'll understand if I leave the actual resolution of rolls to you, since I have no way of knowing what part of their bonuses are part of the body and which are skilled based. Hestia would have a BAB of 10, an epic attack bonus of 2, and the benefits of Haste.

Cheiros will cast Acid Fog, centred above them so that there is no fog below Cychreides, but lots above, beside and in front of him. Cychreides and the melee-ing furies take (2d6)[4] acid damage. This also activates Cheiros' contingent Freedom of Movement effect.

Cychreides blasts a line of acid at the fury attacking Mopsus. If that one is gone, he'll instead aim for the one that attacked Cheiros. He drifts as much as 5' forward in the acid fog and comes to a stop. Up to DrK as to whether he then falls 10' - you can certainly read it either way. If not, we have lost line of sight to the casters/Damien. If we don't fall, we still now have 20% concealment with the furies adjacent to us. Sorry if that screws you up, Demonic Spoon. To the extent that facing still matters, Cychreides is shifting to face the casting furies.

[DrK]

The Flight to Olympus

As Berenike, Alceus and Angela flap towards to the distant mountains they can all see the owl, a delicate trilling and hooting emanating from it giving a sense of relaxation.

Berenike feels a slight pressure on her mind, a voice, a faint hoot besseching entry. (Assuming) that the Queen agrees she can hear the hushed and regal voice of her great mistress in her mind. "Daughter of mine. Consider what you do. You imperil the world itself. Flames must be cooled and the blood grieved. Do not bring your grievance to our home. An eternity of pride is hard for many to overcome."...

As the three of you look back you can see a shimmering rainbow appear in the air, a vast blast of red fire... The battle is indeed serious!

The Battle

Below the heroes the sea is awash with the blood of greeks as shattered ships. But Scylla is sorely beset as half a dozen ships, battered and damaged close in on her. Brave spearmen stabbing wolf heads and tentacles even as heroes in gold and silver with weapons glittering with fire, light or acid leap forward to engage the Titaness and vast wards spread over the ships deflecting the frozen ice lances and dancing streams of lightning.

In the sky the dragon comes to an abrupt and brutal halt as the acidic fog engulfs it, the thick cloying material slowing everything and obscuring the furies from sight. But more importantly the massiv bank of sulphorous fog preventing the dragon (and its passengers) slamming into the dangerous shimmering multicoloured wall.

Some 150+ft back the warrior explodes into a vast ball of flame that engulfs the casters in a vast explosion of fire leaving the twin furies leaking vast streams of blood- streams that end for one as the one nearest the dragfons flops out of the air, the magic missiles punching through the fury like large arrows of pure force.

The other caster dazed and spinning as it plunges some 200ft towards the ground, slowly rotating and spinning as it plunges dazed towards the blood soaked sea.

As the casters plummet or die the remaining furies turn and flee flapping down towards the boats in search of easier prey as the heroes prove too much...

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With the team brutalising them the remaining furies scatter fleeing 400ft in different directions.

You would have killed them easily so they fled instead. WHen they lost the casters.... it was over for them sad face for the DM!

[lostsole31]

Berenike's mind open's of course, "Great Athena, I will obey. But how can we heal this rift? It is without doubt that some of Olympus are hell-bent on destruction. And now a titan? What is to be done, if not a direct appeal?"

[Toliudar]

As the spellcasting fury, reeling from Damien's blast, tumbles downward, Hestia reaches out to catch at her. If need be, she zips down after the other remains.
Her mental voice, acerbic and clipped, reports on what was happening around them - both for the benefit of those in the cloud and those still Olympus-bound.

The other furies are scattering. It looks like the kings and heroes are mounting a defense against Scylla."

Cheiros sends a mental command to the dragon to attempt to grab a fury - preferably one that wasn't moving under it's own power. Cheiros also adds to the mental discussion.

"We should try to learn more about how when these furies were sent to us, and by whom. Although I fear that the latter answer is all too obvious."

He weaves another spell to attempt to kill off the pesky fury. If it succeeds, he reaches out to snag the slowly-falling body.

Cycheides snatches at a trapped fury, and drifts partially, but not entirely, out of the cloud of acid.

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Another great battle, DrK, and not over yet!

Hestia will make a touch attack to try to grab the dead caster. If this fails, she'll zip down after it to snag it. Attack bonus (not factoring in strength bonus from the body): (1d20+13)[20].

My understanding is that the two furies who attacked Mopsus and Cheiros in melee would still be stuck in the fog. Cheiros' goal now is to try to capture them - alive if possible, but dead is acceptable.

If they attempted to move away last round, Cheiros would have made an AoO Enervating touch attack to keep his dance partner close: Attack: (1d20+19)[20] Concealment (miss on a 1-20): (1d100)[14]. Attack deals (1d8+5)[10] negative energy damage, delivers 2 negative levels, and prompts a DC 42 fort save or paralyzed.

On his action, he'll either snag a paralyzed fury (if the AoO happened and worked), or else will cast Horrid Wilting on the two furies. (20d6)[76] untyped damage, Fort DC 34 for half.

Cychreides will attempt to grab a fury - preferably a dead/paralyzed one, but otherwise making a grapple attempt against a live one. He then falls 10' through the fog, so that he is almost out the bottom. Touch attack: (1d20+43)[53] Concealment (miss on a 1-20): (1d100)[62]. Damage (if it's alive): (2d8+11)[21].

Damage from the Acid Fog to Cychreides and the two furies: (2d6)[5].

Edit: wow! An AoO that featured missing due to concealment AND a crit miss. He's on a roll!

[RaggedAngel]

Damien watches as the furies flee from him, but he makes no attempt to pursue them; they were weak, and to crush them as they fled would have been an act of cruelty, despite their cowardice. He instead closes his eyes and stills his mind, relaxing his stance and refreshing his composure. He opens his eyes to survey the battle below, reinvigorated and prepared to act.

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He drops his Stance of Alacrity as a free action, and reprepares his maneuvers as a full-round action.

[DrK]

The Battle

THe dazed fury-sorcerer plunges and spins through the air in a confused manner as it drops. But Hestia in her borrowed form drops like a thunderbolt catching it by the heel even as the she-devil begins to recover as they grapple (figuratively) some 200ft below the dragon.

THe dragon trapped in the fog grabs one of the twisting furies savaging it with undead fangs. Even as the fury responds, clawing at the dragon with razor sharp claws a swirling vortex of dark energy assails it and its mate.

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grapppled Fort save (1d20+20)[32]
not grappled Fort save (1d20+20)[22]

Attacking with -4 (1d20+28)[47] damage (2d6+15)[24]
Attacking with -4 (1d20+28)[44] damage (2d6+15)[20]

Damien merely stands waiting in the skies watching the destruction laid out in the bay beneath with bodies floating in the surf, already crowding the beach like strange unmoving beached stel coloured seals

On the flight

With a light hoot hoot the owl effortlessly keeps pace with the centaur floating close, feathery wings brushing against both centaur and queen filling them with a brief surge of energy and lust for life.

In Berenike's mind she can hear the sad voice of her patron... "the question you ask is a riddle fit for orpheus himself. I not know how to cool ardent tempers. Only offering prayers that we can somehow avoid the death or mortals and spilling of motral blood.

[Toliudar]

Hestia settles one of her new, powerful arms around the neck of the fury sorceress, clamps the other hand over the woman's mouth, and beat her wings furiously to stop their descent. She carefully and with as much precision as possible jerks her opposite knee into the fury's rib cage, hoping to batter her into complete unconsciousness.

Cychreides shrugs free of the acid fog with a pop, struggling fury still clamped in her mouth, leaving the other fury to her own devices. He flaps over to Damien, giving the warrior the opportunity to mount up again if he so chose.

Noting the huge gobbets of dragon that the fury continued to carve out with her amazing claws, Cheiros grimaces. He sends the hand that had been floating by his head for the entire battle forward, powering it up with an enchantment designed to either suck the life from the fury or restore the dragon.

"Mopsus, Damien any help you could provide in subduing the woman in Cychreides' jaws would be much appreciated. We need to regroup and try to figure out how to tackle the titan below."

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Hestia is stopping in midair. She executes a pin on the fury, blocking her ability to speak. Assuming that she still has an attack action left, she tries to hit the caster for nonlethal damage.

Cychreides falls free of the acid fog this round. He tries to move the grapple at half speed, moving 90' towards Damien. Opposed check (1d20+50)[70] to do so - if he fails, they all fall 150 feet.

Cheiros uses his Spectral Hand to deliver an empowered maximized Inflict Critical Wounds to the fury. I'm never sure about rules for attacking into melee, but frankly, if the hand hits Cychreides, that's okay too. Touch attack: (1d20+21)[30]. Deals 78 points negative energy damage (or cures same, if it hits the dragon), fort save DC 30 for half.

[RaggedAngel]

Damien reorients on the Fury clutched in the dragon's jaws, and he grins. "Subdual isn't my specialty, but I'll see what I can do." He then drops his stance, and he begins to fall, flipping once through the air before thrusting his feet out behind him. A pillar of flame appears behind him, and he rockets forward at a shocking rate, closing the distance between Cychreides and himself in moments.

As he reaches the Fury Damien flips in the air, bringing his feet forward his arms splayed back for balance and the flames of his passage washing over him like a falling star. The force and sound of his impact are deafening, but as he hits the Fury he seems to roll with the blow, making the brutal double kick slightly less lethal. His flames rip into the monster's flesh, but they wash over Cychreides harmlessly, their ire reserved for the Fury alone.

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That mental image will stay with me for days. I love this game.

He switches from Balance on the Sky to Leading the Charge, and then he initiates Searing Charge to fly right at the Fury. She doesn't get her Dex to AC against him, and she's counted as flanked for his Battle Cunning. He's using his Unarmed Strike to make the attack, and he's doing it nonlethally (he can do this with no penalty because of Improved Unarmed Strike). The fire damage remains lethal, but there's only so much he can do.

Charge Attack: (1d20+36)[54]
Nonlethal Damage: (1d10+53)[62] + (5d6)[12] Fire damage.

[PSinger]

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Rus is sooper-busy, and he might post later in the day, but he passed along this, so combined post.

Berenike nods to herself and pulls Alcaeus up to a slowed hover. She looks at the owl and says, "Thank you for watching over me, Athena. I'm not sure what to actually do considering action is required, but I trust that you've given me the wisdom to understand.

Berenike guides Alcaeus around and says to Angela, "We go back. I'll explain with the others."

Alcaeus shrugs and says, "This will be interesting."

The pair start shooting south back along their track. Alcaeus continues to keep Angela moving at "run" speed.

[DrK]

The Battle

Even as Hestia covers the mouth of the the fury and holds it still flapping and spinning around in the sky the other fury is blasted by negative energy that leaves it reeling before the flaming form of Damien slams into it, the fire burning its wings to the bone before the fist leaves it reeling unconcious and floppy in the Dragon's mouth.

THe furies dealt with, all dead or in flight are now gone leaving the heroes master of the skies as the last of the winged demons are slain on the bloodsoaked decks far below you.

Only the ones in your grasp and the massive titan still unleashing devastation in the increasing blood soaked waters beneath the signs of the battle.

The Flight

Wheeling around like banking hunting hawks the battle in the bay rapidly begins to zoom into focus as the titan slowly changes in perspective from a hideous child breaking toys to the true realisation that she is a towering engine of destruction taller than the tallest forest and more devastating than the most powerful of typhoons...

[lostsole31]

"Cheiros?" calls Berenike, vocally and with the same feeling she gave to answer him when he touched her mind before. "Status? How wounded are we? We're on our way back."

[Toliudar]

Cheiros quickly repeats Berenike's news to Damien and is quick to respond to Berenike's mental missive.

"I don't believe that we're badly hurt. The furies are now scattered, dead or captured. We are about to turn our attention to this Scylla. Sorry, you said that you're on your way back. Should we wait for you before descending?"

Cychreides starts to spiral around back up, the fury still dangling in his mouth. Hestia, experimenting with her new form, spirals around the dragon as he rises.

"I could get to like this. More's the pity."

Cheiros stares down from the back of the dragon, silently running through several options to deal with the massive titan below.

"Gentlemen and Hestia, I'm open to suggestions. I can try bombarding it with death energy from up here, but it's going to be hard to get through her defenses. Do you have anything else you'd like to try first - or instead?"

[lostsole31]

"I'm not there, so your best estimate based on enemy strength. If too powerful, standby, we'll be there soon enough .... but I'm not keen on fighting it 'just for principle.' We save who we can save, not fight just to fight .... even if there are those that will end up dying. Otherwise, we're useless. Choose our targets instead of them choosing us if by no other means than 'we happen to be there.'"

[Toliudar]

Cheiros responds.

"I believe that we're not really fighting to fight, as you say. We're trying to save the lives of hundreds of sailors. And if you're not coming back in order to help with this battle, why are you returning?"

[lostsole31]

"We'll cover that when we have time to breathe. I didn't say I wasn't coming back to fight. I just don't want us rushing headlong into every major beast that comes our way. There are going to be lives in peril everywhere we turn now. We just need to be careful that we don't get stuck fighting the battles that the gods put in our path because of a never-ending sense of immediacy.

"How fares the fleet? Has the loss of the furies at least given succuor?

[Toliudar]

"Our arrival drew the furies' attacks away from the fleet, and the heroes have now drawn together for a more concerted defense. How soon can you be back here?"

Cychreides spirals slowly up to a thousand feet in the air.

[Igneel]

Hearing Berenike mention going back, Angela raises an eyebrow before giving a shrug.

"Suits me either way, lets just see how fast I can get there..."

Twisting her body to turn sharply she turns back towards where they have flown.

[RaggedAngel]

Damien does not hold onto the dragon as it scales, instead balancing along its back while standing tall. "I am tempted to charge down there and lead as many of those heroes, soldiers, and sailors in a single great charge. With enough of them behind me I could put terrible force into my attacks without fear of my blow failing or being turned aside. Can any of you create summons? They would work just as well as men, and their lives are, no offense, less precious."

[PSinger]

Alcaeus: "'Create summons?' You mean summon creatures? Yeah, once a day I can summon a powerful holy or elemental creature."

[Igneel]

"I could call for a friend of nature, had I prepared such a spells. But even then, they wouldn't be very strong compared to what the spellcasters of my tribe could summon."

[DrK]

The dragon orbiting high above the battle watches for a mere minute or so as the Titan moves across the bay, a red wake filled with detritus and floating corpses in her wake.

Only a few ships remain now. Most either sunk or fled. Indeed the golden sail of Agamemnon and the red sails of Sparta now mere dots on the horizon as they beat to quarters. The great ship of Ithaca lists at a horrid angle, its spine shattered on rocks as the huge beast closes in.

The Argos is not far away, the golden fleece of Jason glittering on the prow as it seeks to close with the horrible monster before she can reach Odysseus's great ship. But the Argos is damaged with mast dragging in the water and many of its oars broken and splintered- the bodies of 4 furies flapping on the deck still weakly twitching as the crew spear it with heavy bladed spears...

Even as the one sided race plays out on the bloodslikcked waters below you the other heroes return like darting arrows streaking through the air...

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Team's re-united. You are now 2000ft above/away from Scylla

[Toliudar]

Hestia settles into the seat on the dragon vacated by Damien. Cheiros considers the warrior's request.

"To join you in your charge. Ah, like yesterday. I remember. I believe that I can help with that, although they won't be nearly as powerful as Mopsus' great bird."

After a little chanting, a modest flock of slightly-past-prime wyverns, great winged beasts of prey, circle with the dragon.

--

Cheiros ritually raises a hand in greeting to the three heroes as they return.

"Welcome. Damien is speaking of trying to make a grand charge on Scylla. Perhaps Mopsus and I can support that by separating from the rest of you and starting to hurl magic down at her, leveling off a bit higher. It may be difficult for my mortal magics to get past her titan defenses, but it is worth a try. Berenike, you are welcome to join us. Hestia has possessed a fury, and can help fend off surprises if any more furies come out of the cloud."

Once there was some signal of approval, Cheiros puts the dragon into a nosedive.

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Sorry, my previous response to RaggedAngel's request got swallowed somewhere down the interwebtubes.

Cheiros will cast, oh, 5 Summon Undead 5's in order to get 10 zombie wyverns. He'll use Charnel touch to heal Cychreides up to full.

With a full-speed descent of 360' per round, it'll take Cychreides two rounds to get Cheiros into strike position for an initial dose of Horrid Wilting. My thought is then to have the dragon level off at about 300', so that those with medium-range effects can unload at will. Meanwhile, those who are more melee minded take the rest of the summoned creatures with them on a War Master's Charge. Sound okay?

[PSinger]

Alcaeus nosedives as well, dropping 360' and bringing up a holy aura on himself.

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Move Action - 180' movement is doubled going down. Include a down angle to get 120' laterally closer as well.
>>> Now 1640' above scylla, and 1880' away.
Standard - SLA: holy aura on self.

[lostsole31]

Berenike casts her shield SLA on herself.

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Current Spells
Shield
Moment of Prescience
Status (2, 18 hours): currently only on Alcaeus.
Heroes' feast (6, 12 hours): Partaken with all of the PCs only ... undead dragon, Hestia, and any other servitors or the like are not included.
* Immune to fear & poison. +18 temporary hp's. +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and Will saves.
Visions of the future
* (8, 18 hours; +2 sacred bonus to all saves, +2 dodge bonus to AC, may discharge for +9 of same, 1 rd).

Supernatural: Guidance (9 rounds remaining).

[Igneel]

Despite her long-range specialty it would be fairly hard to hit the beast from the distance she was at currently. Angela tucks in her wings enough to start her plummet, but still able to control her descent. Going at an angle she drops down 135' while drawing her bow.

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Lets hope my Geometry math skills didn't rust from lack of use.

Free Action- Draw Bow (Quick Draw)
Move Action- 70' movement is doubled in descent. Angled to get 95' closer in both directions. (95^2+95^2=135^2)
Currently 1905' 905' above, ~705' away.

[DrK]

With the faint keening of the rush of air over wings- both skeletal and divine the heroes begin their descent. As the heroes plunge down through the air thick with a fine rain of feathers and blood the vast titan begins to grow and grow soon its true size becoming apparent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz3Cc7wlfkI

You can see her grotesque form, a couple of the wolves' heads looking up at the sky as they chew on the body parts of floating soldiers noticing you but her human body is focused on the ship trapped on the rocks in front of you. The thrashing of men and soldiers pinned under the mass of sails and masts or clinging desperately to the sharp rocks, all looking at the approaching the towering creature of destruction with terror.

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Sorry I should have clarified. I meant 2000ft away in total so probably 1000ft laterally and ~800ft up.

You can have ~3 rounds worth of actions as you descend before the Titan notices you.

[Toliudar]

The ten wyverns form a rough V formation flanking Damien as he descends.

Hestia deftly straps the unconscious fury into one of the empty saddles lining Cychreides back. She wanted her hands free in case of emergency.

As soon as the dragon begins its descent, Cheiros starts to work his death-magic. He starts by summoning up the buzzing flies of Hades, which he hoped would distract Scylla. He then followed up with a pair of enchantments designed to suck the water from the ancient creature, dragging them down to an afterlife. Cheiros hadn't seen any titans down in Hades' underwrold, but that certainly didn't mean that there weren't any down there.

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Round 1: Casting Insect plague on 6 squares in the middle of where Scylla is. Each deals 2d6 untyped damage each round, and requires a DC12 fort save - hey, don't laugh, she could roll a 1! - or be nauseated for the next round. Damage in rounds 2 and 3:
(2d6)[5]
(2d6)[8]
(2d6)[3]
(2d6)[5]
(2d6)[6]
(2d6)[6]

(2d6)[7]
(2d6)[8]
(2d6)[9]
(2d6)[7]
(2d6)[10]
(2d6)[6]

If Scylla seems to be bothered by the bugs, and moves out of the area, Cheiros will place additional swarms in her new location. If she doesn't seem particularly bothered by the locust swarms, he'll instead cast Horrid Wilting on her twice.

Horrid Wilting 1: (20d6)[69], fort DC 34 for half. CL check to beat SR: (1d20+26)[35]
Horrid Wilting 2: (20d6)[69], fort DC 34 for half. CL check to beat SR: (1d20+26)[33]

In both cases, he'll experimenting with designating the wolf heads as individual targets. Since they seem to act like independent creatures, why not target em?

[RaggedAngel]

Damien balances atop the dragon, the undead wyverns arcing out behind him in an eerie contrail, each of them faintly glowing with the same soft white color as his blade. The edges of his blade and the spikes of his armor shine brightly in the sun, and his eyes are bright with the energy of battle.

"Friends," he calls out through the air and across minds, "can any of you spare magic to empower me? I have done all I can to prepare for this class, but anything you can do to grant me greater might or maneuverability may tip the balance of the battle."

[lostsole31]

Berenike turns Alcaeus around and begins to climb.

"Meet me, Warrior, and I will aid you as I can," she tepes. "I have spells to make several of us stronger, hardier, wiser, or more forceful ... as long as you do not have items that already do that anyway. I have a spell that can also give weapons the ability to bypass armor with the power of focused light or to make several of us strike as if from the heavens itself, or to resist powers of poison, death, or the like. But we have little time to tarry, so as you come to meet me tell me where you need buoying."